1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus capable of performing data communications with information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, and controlling methods thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A function of carrying out a direct facsimile transmission of a document prepared by means of a personal computer and receiving image data transmitted from a facsimile apparatus via a telephone line is referred to as PC-FAX. To realize the PC-FAX function, a personal computer is connected through a fax modem having a facsimile communication function to a telephone line or, alternatively, connected to a facsimile apparatus having a data communication interface such as RS-232C.
An operation of taking information received by a facsimile apparatus into a personal computer is as follows. First, the operation mode of the facsimile apparatus is switched from an ordinary operation mode to a PC-FAX mode. The PC-FAX mode can be set by sending an instruction in a form of a control command called AT command from the personal computer. In the PC-FAX mode, information received in accordance with a facsimile communication procedure is sent to the personal computer. On the other hand, information received in the ordinary operation mode is printed out in a printer section of the facsimile apparatus.
In the aforementioned conventional facsimile apparatus having the PC-FAX function, whether received image data is printed out by the printer section of the facsimile apparatus or is sent to the personal computer is determined based on the operation mode of the facsimile apparatus, i.e., whether the operation mode is the ordinary operation mode or the PC-FAX mode. That is, the facsimile apparatus does not have a function of judging, when receiving information, whether the received information is to be sent to the personal computer or printed out in the printer section. Therefore, if a facsimile correspondence is to be received by a recipient facsimile apparatus in the PC-FAX mode, a transmitter has to tell a receiver to switch the operation mode of a recipient facsimile apparatus to the PC-FAX mode before carrying out a transmission operation.
Conventionally, such a situation makes the facsimile receiving operation through the PC-FAX function extremely inconvenient.